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“Everything okay?” she asked.
The conversation between him and his president had been fraught with frowns, shaking heads, and clenched jaws.
“You worried about me, sweetheart?”
“What? No. Of course not. Just making conversation.”
Zach laughed, and Shell snorted. “As much as I’d love to stay and see this play out, I’ve gotta run,” she said.
“What?” Toni asked. “You just got here.” She’d been looking forward to spending more time with Shell.
“I know. But I had to work my second job, and my sitter could only give me an extra hour tonight. We’ll hang out soon, okay?”
Toni nodded and accepted a kiss on the cheek from Shell. She laid one on Zach as well before making her way toward the parking lot.
“She works too damn hard,” Zach said sounding disgusted. “Fucking Copper. He needs to pull his head out of his ass and start something up with that woman. Then she wouldn’t have to work herself to exhaustion.”
Toni searched the crowd until she found the Handlers’ president. Not surprisingly, his focus was one hundred percent on Shell as she walked out of the party. Toni couldn’t decipher the expression on his face, but whatever his thoughts, they were deep. He looked tormented. Like a man who wanted something with every fiber of his being but knew it would never be his.
“Wanna head inside? It’s getting chilly out here.” Zach unwound his arm from her shoulders and grasped her hand, tugging her toward the clubhouse before she’d answered.
The night air might have been cold, but be it the alcohol, the warmth of the fire, or heat from the man beside her, Toni wasn’t chilled in the least. The more time she spent with Zach’s hand in hers or his body against her, the hotter she grew. If something didn’t give soon, she might just combust.
“Let me ask you something,” she said to distract both of them from the growing need. “How come you don’t have a nickname?”
“Huh?” Zach stopped walking and faced her, still holding her hand.
“Yeah, you know…Maverick, Viper, Rocket, Jigsaw. Those clearly are nicknames. And you’re just called Zach.”
He cocked his head and snickered. “Zach is my road name, babe. Well, not really a road name, but a nickname given to me when I was in middle school. The club didn’t bother to change it.”
“Wait? Really? I always thought Zach was your real name.” She searched the back recesses of her mind but couldn’t come up with anything. “Well, you’re a few years older than I am so we’d never really talked. And it’s not like our parents were friends. I’m sure I knew at one point, but I don’t remember now. Eek, that sounds horrible.” Her face heated. What a selfish bitch he must think she was.
He laughed and tugged her near, slipping his arm around her waist. “My name is Jason.”
Once again, the feel of him so close threatened to overtake her senses. Especially when she felt a stiff bulge bump her lower abdomen.
Ignore his hard cock. Ignore his hard, large cock.
“I, um…” She swallowed. “Why, Zach?”
He rolled his eyes and slid his hand from the base of her spine to the very top, where her blouse dipped and left her upper back bare. “My cousin gave me the name when I was about eleven.” He traced his callused fingertips along the neck of her shirt making little goosebumps rise all over her back. She wanted to rip the thing off and beg him to touch her everywhere, but somehow, she found the strength to resist.
“H-how come?”
His gaze was intense on her face, absorbing her every reaction. She was pretty sure he could see straight through her mask to the needy woman hiding underneath.
“Because he said I looked like Zack Morris from Saved by the Bell.”
And the spell was broken. “Oh, my God.” Toni slapped a hand over her mouth in a vain attempt to muffle her laughter. It was so true. He looked exactly like an older and extra buff Zack Morris.
He scowled and gave her hair a gentle tug when her laughter only grew. “I loved it when I was a kid because all the chicks dug him.” He winked. “When I got older, I fucking hated it. Being named after a freaking pretty boy teen? Fuckin’ joke. Copper tried to help me out by spelling it with an H instead of a K. Then he tried to pretend the name came from some other Zach. But that never worked. Everyone in town already knew.”
“I-I’m sor-sorry.” She could barely speak she was laughing so hard. “It’s not funny. It’s really not. If it makes you feel any better, I had a big crush on him growing up.” Trying to make the hilarity stop, she worked to turn the laugh into a cough. “I’ll stop now.”
And then she snorted. Her eyes flew wide and heat rushed to her face.
